關於唐代《法例》書

On the Collections of Legal Precedents of the Tang Dynasty

唐初以來所見的「法例」，含有三義，此即作為法律通例、常式（或曰永格）以及判例類比。高宗時，趙仁本所著《法例》，即屬於判例類比。《法例》有其一定的客觀性，以及司法上的規範作用，基本上是屬於中央的判例。論其內容，以現在所見的實例看來，除陳述案件事實外，判文中也會引用律、令條文作為依據。高宗一度罷廢（可能在儀鳳年間676-679）《法例》的行用，至遲到玄宗頒行《開元前令》（719）時再予恢復，同時也作為國子監律學生的基本教材之一。宋以後無聞，也不見典籍著錄。

There were three meanings by the term “law by examples” from the beginning of Tang Dynasty: general principles of Law, general formula （or “permanent form”）, and collections of the analogy of Court Cases. During the time of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty, an official by the name of Zhao Renben compiled a book entitled “Legal Precedents”, and it was one of the kind of “collection of legal precedents”. This kind of collection was somewhat more objective, and thus carried out some regulatory function in jurisdiction. They were basically legal precedents of the central government. As for its content, based on the actual precedents, in addition to the statements of facts, the court verdict also cited some legal codes and administrative orders as basis for judgment. Emperor Gaozong once （probably around 676-697 A.D） abolished the use of law by examples, and it was not revived until the First Part of Orders of Kaiyuan Reign was put into effect in the year of 719 A.D. At the same time, these collections were used as basic textbooks for the Law Students in Imperial College. But they just disappeared after the Song Dynasty and were not seen in the bibliographies ever since.